December 2011
The Best (and Worst) of 2011 in Seattle
Our editorial team taps into the latest and greatest our city has to offer.
It’s been a year of extraordinary changes in our city, from the explosive growth of Seattle’s best new neighborhood to the very green (and very micro) trends of pop-up, plug-in, nano- and repurposed everything. Never content with last year’s big thing, Seattleites are embracing the new and the next with their trademark stealth fervor. No…
South Lake Union: Best Thing of 2011
#thehoodthatcould Though it’s been percolating in Paul Allen’s brain for years, the South Lake Union neighborhood finally arrived in 2011. Now a full-fledged hot spot to work (Group Health headquarters, Path, and 12—count ’em, 12!—office buildings occupied by Amazon.com, and they’re still bursting at the seams), live, dine out and play, it’s shiny and new…
Best Local Shopping in 2011
The Seattle products and boutiques we couldn't stay away from this year.
Best New Home and Gift Shop: Butter Home The sentiment “Go to your happy place” became a physical, rather than mental, destination after the arrival of sweet charmer Butter Home last December. Tucked under the rafters in the new Melrose Market, gifts and wares range from the eclectic (felted gazelle-head taxidermy-like wall hangings!) to the…
Best Food and Drink in Seattle 2011
Or, why we couldn't stop eating in 2011.
Best PieSeattle Pie Company It was the year of the pie! Proof: A half-dozen new pie shops opened this year, A La Mode, American Pie, High 5 Pie and the easy-to-remember Pie among them. But after eating our way through miles of crust and pounds of filling, we’re convinced that the shop that makes the…
28 Holiday Happenings Not to Miss
Glad tidings abound in the Emerald City!
Dance Pacific Northwest Ballet: The Nutcracker Try and spot the Wild Thing hidden within Maurice Sendak’s famous set display during the ballet’s iconic presentation of The Nutcracker. 11/25–12/27. McCaw Hall; pnb.org Land of the Sweets: The Burlesque Nutcracker Naughty nutcrackers are back at The Triple Door with new choreography by favorite performers Waxie Moon, Kitten…
Best Local Arts in 2011
The shining stars in Seattle literature, theater, visual art and film in 2011.
LITERATURE #notavailableonkindle Most Innovative Approach to the Literary Journal: Filter Sometimes, thinking outside of the box means thinking inside of a box. Jennifer Borges Foster’s hand-ornamented and hand-sewn literary journal Filter is always a thing of beauty, but for this year’s volume (the third), she went completely above and beyond the bounds of the literary…
The Year in Recyled Art
One man's trash is an artist's pile of gold.
Best Reason to Skip the Recycling Bin: Scott Fife’s Corrugated Sculptures Local sculptor Scott Fife, who manipulates old cardboard as if it were fresh clay, left little corrugated lines on our hearts when he displayed his gorgeous, life-size bear-head sculptures at Platform Gallery last May through July. Rowr! platformgallery.com Best Use of Grandma’s Bric-a-brac: Nick…
Best Sports Moments in 2011
The best and totally random occurences that make it all so much more than a game.
The Best Use of the JumbotronJonah Duvall’s “Thriller” Stellar fielding replays were rare sights on the Safeco Jumbotron this M’s season (sigh), but the big screen was still put to good use, thanks to 12-year-old Jonah Duvall, who spontaneously broke out a “Thriller” dance to a delighted crowd on July 1. During this, his second…
Best ‘Totally Seattle’ Moments in 2011
From chicken coops to charity, these moments stand as a great reminder of the positive side of Seatt
BIKES Best News for BikersConnecting the “Missing Link”It’s one of the most fought-over stretches of pavement in the city: the so-called “missing link” of the Burke-Gilman Trail. In July, a hearing examiner ruled that the mile and a half of road between 11th Avenue NW and the locks in Ballard can be developed into the…
Best Beauty Services in Seattle 2011
The best places for styling, spa'ing and waxing needs in 2011.
Best New SalonAdele Stylist Amy Quackenbush has returned to her roots: that is, to preventing our roots from showing. In previous years, the former Suede owner found she was spending less and less time styling, so she opened up chic new salon Adele in Fremont in February to get back behind the chair. Clients eagerly…
Best Kids Stuff from 2011
These book clubs, products and party ideas made parents' lives a little easier in 2011.
Best “Mini Me” TrendBook Groups for Children For Seattle’s subadult set, 2011 was the year of the book…group. Across the city, kids are huddling in circles to discuss everything from Hunger Games to graphic novels to Daisy Dawson stories. Best of all: Mockingbird Books‘ free book group, complete with free pizza, just for tween boys…
Worst of 2011
The lowlights of 2011 in Seattle, including sex, drugs, dogs and salmon.
ASININE Yo-ho-ho and a BUI: Seafair boasts 71 people arrested for boating under the influence—an increase from last year’s 62 drunken sailors but down from 2008’s impressive 84. Bad dog! Local pop singer Lisa Dank falls in love with found pooch, refuses to return to rightful owner. Take it to go! Marie Callendar’s in Northgate…